Intel has made a public demonstration of its next generation mobile-platform Napa that includes the dual-core chip Yonah as well as upgrades to the graphics and wireless chipsets. Yonah is expected to appear in the first half of next year.
Yonah will be Intel's tool to bring dual-core capability to notebooks and will be the first processor to be commercially available as a chip manufactured in 65 nm.It is unusual that the company chose a relatively young platform to spearhead thr scaling process, since Intel traditionally makes this move with very mature architectures. According to Sean Maloney, executive vice president of the firm's Mobility Group, a dual-core package in 90 nm would have been to large for notebooks, so Intel was forced to begin the 65 nm process with Yonah.
The "Napa" Centrino package will be one third the size of the original Centrino from about two years ago. This is simply amazing. Dual-core, SSE3 and graphics chipset "Calistoga" will all be a part of Napa.
Yonah also has an application that goes beyond laptops.
Yonah however will not stop at notebooks. The company also displayed a "wireless mini entertainment hub" that closely resembled the size and shape of Apple's Mac mini PC. It was not clear, if the device in fact will be available when Yonah hits the market, but there was no doubt, that Apple's Mac mini form factor left a lasting impression with Intel.